According to studies and charts provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), during the years 1988 to 2000 the percentage of children and teens
suffering from obesity more than doubled. During those same years, the CDC reported that the prevalence of adults suffering from overweight and
obesity rose steadily to 64%. In 2001, the second most frequently prescribed drug sold in America was a synthetic hormone drug, indicating a vast
number of individuals were now suffering from thyroid malfunction. Tied in with the overweight and obesity problems resulting from thyroid malfunction
are a host of additional, potentially deadly afflictions suggesting that "overweight" might be only a symptom rather than a diagnosis - it is
actually only one of the more visible clues that something is not right, that something is out of kilter. (2, 3, 4)

According to the CDC, between the years 1980 and 1994 the overall incidence of asthma increased 75%. Since 1991, the number of US adults with
diagnosed diabetes has increased 61%, and the number is projected to more than double by the year 2050. (5, 6)

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine stated that the incidence of gastric/esophageal cancer (adenocarcinoma) has inexplicably risen more
rapidly than any other cancer incidence in the United States. Yale New Haven Hospital and the National Cancer Institute list that rate of increase at
350%. Also noted was the observation that the majority of the unfortunates suffering from gastric cancer in this particular study were white males,
and the majority of those white males first presented with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Adult white males were not the only ones suffering
from GERD, however. By the CDC's own definition of "epidemic," GERD appears to be an epidemic of staggering proportions in the United States,
today. (7)

During the five-year period ending in 2001, the sale of drugs prescribed to treat reflux, heartburn and other gastrointestinal disorders in children
soared 660 percent. In a report looking at four of those same years, the cost of treating behavioral problems presently referred to as ADHD in
children also increased 120 percent. (8, 9)

According to an annual report of the US Department of Education to Congress, the number of "children aged 0 to 21" being treated for autism and
traumatic brain injury rose from the first 5,000 reported cases in 1992/93 (at the start of mandatory reporting), to 94,000 cases in 2000/01. In
looking at individual states, a troubling mosaic forms. States showing the highest increase (a two thousand percent increase or greater) in the number
of children being treated for autism include Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky, Mississippi, Maryland and Oregon. This is not to say that the other states
were faring well - in California from 1987 through 2002, the number of people being treated for autism by the Department of Developmental Services
increased by 634%. In Indiana the percentage of children suffering from autism rose by 860%. In Michigan, the increase was over 1000%. The 1999
Journal of Pediatrics indicated that the majority of autistic children who were followed in one study were also suffering from reflux and other
digestive problems. (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)

Unfortunately, it appears that little boys are far more likely than little girls to suffer from autism as well as from a variety of childhood
behavioral disorders. Typically, even as infants these boys also appear to be suffering from reflux and sleep disturbances. It is while noting the
surge in ADHD that another disturbing fact emerges: Some of the states with the worst surges in behavioral problems - including Colorado, Kentucky,
Mississippi, Alaska and Oregon - are also states in which still-unexplained behavior in juvenile males has manifested in horrific school shootings.

While the brain and its workings are still not fully understood, it is within the frontal lobes of the brain that the capacities for moral judgment,
attention and memory are now thought to be situated. PET scans and functional MRIs of the boys afflicted with autistic disorders have revealed what
appears to be "decreased glucose metabolic rate in the medial frontal region,"and "hypometabolism [lowered metabolism] demonstrated in the temporal
and parietal regions." (16)

Tests have also indicated that, in the brains of the afflicted boys there is a "decreased activity and reduced anatomical size, particularly in the
right brain . . . " Other brain disturbances, including disturbances in the brain's processing of tryptophan, serotonin and melatonin are becoming
known, as is damage to the hippocampus area, thought to be associated with memory problems and obsessive thoughts. (17)

In Colorado, the rate of suicide among teenagers, children and young adults has been consistently above the national average since 1980. Suicide is,
sadly, the second-leading cause of death in children between the ages of 10 through 19 in Colorado. In Kentucky, suicide is also the second leading
cause of death in children, teens and young adults. In Mississippi, the number of teen and young-adult suicides has increased 126% since 1969, with
more than 90% of the victims being males. In Alaska, the suicide rate among teenagers is nearly twice that of the national average - twice. (21, 22,
23, 24)

Other strange surges in human suffering have been noted, as well. In Colorado, from 1990 through 1999, the percentage of children with orthopedic
impairments rose 484%. In Alaska, during 1990-98, the incidence of diabetes increased by 152%, (much greater than the national rate), and now Alaska
is among the top three states with the highest incidence of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. (25, 26)

In the midst of all this growing and tragic suffering, in the year 2000 the Surgeon General issued a "first ever" call to action in response to what
was noted as a "silent epidemic" of dental problems in the United States. Something strange is happening in the mouths of Americans. (27)

According to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, an estimated 80% of American adults currently have some form of periodontal
(gum) disease. In parts of Kentucky, nearly half of the toddlers have cavities in their teeth, which is approximately twice the national average. In
addition to Kentucky, the top five states cited in a 1997 table used in the Surgeon General's report on toothlessness included West Virginia,
Louisiana, Arkansas and Maine. (28, 29, 30)

Perhaps it is at this point that one might begin to reasonably suspect that whatever lies at the cause of this epidemic of epidemics - whatever is
disabling Americans in body, mind and spirit - just might be something we are putting into our mouths or otherwise absorbing into our bodies. This is
not an unreasonable suspicion.

In a growing number of geographical areas that begin and end with invisible county lines, the substance is almost impossible to avoid. Some of the
hardest hit counties are located in Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky, Michigan and Mississippi.

As the old saying goes, when no other agent can be located as the cause for our problems, blame it on the water. "It must be something in the
water," the saying has been said for ages, usually with a shrug and chuckle.

Perhaps it's time for us as individuals and as a nation to repeat this phrase again - this time as though our lives depended upon it, this time
without a shrug and chuckle - and while we are at it, take a closer look at our water.

Maybe there is something in the water, after all.

* * * * * * * * *

The strange, corrosive, toxic but still controversial agent in the water is fluoride.

The atomic symbol for the negatively charged halogen known as fluorine is, simply, "F" or "F-." When the negatively charged ions - or anions - of
fluorine gas combine with another element, a fluoride compound is formed. If the F combines with sodium (Na), for instance, the compound would then be
known as sodium fluoride, or NaF. If it combines with calcium (Ca), the compound formed is calcium fluoride, or CaF. If it combines with arsenic, it
becomes AsF. And so on.

Fluoride is a trace element in nature, but manmade fluoride compounds became grossly abundant as a result of the invention of weapons of mass
destruction in World War II. Fluoride and uranium are key components in the atomic bomb, and fluoride is also a key ingredient in fluorinated
organophosphate nerve agents, such as Sarin.

Radioactive uranium is naturally present in phosphate ore, but it must be "enriched" if it is to become a nuclear weapon or a reactor fuel. After
the phosphate is mined, the uranium "yellow cake" is removed and sent to an enrichment facility such as the plant owned by the Department of Energy
in Paducah, Kentucky. There, the uranium is fluorinated and uranium hexafluoride (UF6) is produced. Paducah's enrichment plant stopped making UF6 for
weapons in the 1960s, and began creating it, instead, for commercial purposes as a reactor fuel.

Uranium fission was first discovered in the late 1930s by German scientists. In 1939, there was a reported fear that the Nazis were about to develop a
bomb using uranium fission. In 1942, Americans began similar research, facilitated by the knowledge of scientists who had fled their own countries and
moved to the United States. Thus, America was the first to achieve both creation - and use - of atomic weaponry in 1945.

That year, 1945, was one of many changes. With World War II over, 1945 marked the year in which the Nuremberg Trials began - trials that presumably
reaffirmed the sanctity of life, and human rights - trials which would eventually address the atrocities of Nazi human experimentation.

As the world breathed a sigh a relief in knowing that the Nazi health officials' experimentation on human beings had been halted in Germany, 1945
marked the year that "public health officials" in America began their experimentation on human beings with water fluoridation.

In what would turn out to be the biggest human experimentation in history, sodium fluoride - NaF - was added into American's drinking water in
selected communities under the medical claim that the F would prevent dental caries (cavities) in children. Those receiving this experimental,
medicinal treatment in their drinking water, received it then as they do now: They are forced to ingest it, inhale it, bathe and shower in it, whether
or not they want or even need this toxic chemical in their bodies.

As with all medicinal compounds - indeed, as with virtually everything on Earth - some individuals can be expected to have extreme side effects and
allergic reactions. Individuals having severe allergic reactions to penicillin, poison ivy or peanuts are very likely to use common sense and avoid
those substances. Unlike the penicillin, poison ivy or peanuts, however - in fact, unlike any other medicinal compound in history - over 60% of
Americans at this time are now unable to electively avoid the F product unless they also can find a way to avoid their water. While the list of side
effects from fluoride has been falsely minimized or completely concealed by fluoride promoters, the side effects are well documented. Side effects
have been so severe that previously approved medications containing high-grade F compounds have been removed from the market by the FDA. (47, 48, 49,
50, 51)

In a recent paper authored by Myron Coplan, PE, and Roger Masters, PhD, a professor at Dartmouth, the authors discovered that a subtle but potentially
lethal change in F additives took place shortly after the fluoride experimentation on Americans began. In 1947 instead of higher-grade NaF or sodium
fluoride - silicofluorides, or SiFs, were substituted as the fluorinating compound in drinking water. This switch was carried out under the gross
misconception that all F compounds are the same. As outlined in some largely ignored research, however, one part of SiF is substantially more potent
than six parts of NaF. Despite this evidence, and despite the fact that it is now SiF rather than NaF primarily being used in American water
fluoridation, Masters and Coplan found that "virtually all the extensive laboratory research on the biological properties and effects of fluoride in
water has been performed using NaF rather than SiFs..." (52)

Merck gives the definition of silicofluoride as, "fluorosilicate is a compound of silicon and some other base with fluorine, such as sodium
silicofluoride; fluorosilicates are sometimes used as insecticides, and are very toxic when ingested. Called also silicofluoride." (53)

While many are still assuming that the SiF compounds being added to drinking water are high-grade pharmaceuticals, the CDC's National Fluoridation
Engineer has publicly stated that all fluoride compounds currently used for water fluorination are "byproducts of the phosphate fertilizer
industry." (54)

Because of the toxic nature of this compound, the SiF being added to drinking water is an industrial waste that would otherwise have to be disposed of
by the industry that created it, and it would have to be disposed of according to the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HAZMAT). Disposal of toxic
substances under hazmat regulations, however, results in an expense for the industries.

This costly disposal dilemma - and its clever marketing remedy - was expertly summed up in a 1983 letter written by EPA's Rebecca Hanmer, (formerly
the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water), who stated that by putting the SiF waste into drinking water rather than disposing of it, an important
financial savings is made for the industry. Miss Hanmer wrote that this industrial plan is "...an ideal solution to a long standing problem. By
recovering by-product fluosilicic acid (sic) from fertilizer manufacturing, water and air pollution are minimized, and water authorities have a
low-cost source of fluoride..." (55)

Ongoing research by Dr. Roger Masters' team revealed that the effect of SiF in young, growing boys differs from its effects on adult males. In
juvenile males, ingested fluoride is not excreted from the body as efficiently as it is excreted from the body of adult males. It is this finding that
perhaps explains why this substance might be creating an extreme reaction in boys. In addition, after comparing blood lead levels of over 400,000
children in communities using SiF-treated water, it was found that SiF water was also significantly associated with increased levels of lead in the
children tested. This should be cause for alarm because the findings of other recent studies show a distinct correlation between blood concentrations
of lead and unusual, aggressive behavior. (56)

Information published in 2003 detailed the findings of a controlled study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers found in this study
that elevated amounts of lead in the blood "may cause aggressive and even violent behavior." Dr. John D. Bogden, Professor of Preventive Medicine
and Community Health participated in this study at the New Jersey Medical School. He stated, "The data of this study demonstrate that lead exposure
enhances predatory aggression in animals, and provide support for lead exposure as a cause of aggressive behavior in humans." Among other researchers
also participating in this study was Dr. Donald B. Louria, Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. Dr. Louria
stated, "The results support other recent investigations that have found associations between lead in blood or bones and delinquent and aggressive
behavior in teenagers." (57)

In seeking further documented evidence regarding aggressive behavior and its association with SiF water, Dr. Masters contacted personnel in the EPA in
2000 and asked them if they had empirical, scientific data on the effects of SiFs on health and behavior. Robert Thurnau, Chief, Water Supply and
Water Resources Division of the EPA responded. ". . . our answer is no." (58)

In spite of the increasing evidence pointing directly to a potential calamity stemming from massive fluoride poisoning, there remain outspoken groups
that continue to advocate the blanket dosing of entire communities with still-untested, unapproved fluoridation. Among them is a group known as
"Quackwatch."

Quackwatch is chaired by retired psychiatrist, Stephen Barrett, M.D. He and the Quackwatch associates have gathered together for the purpose of acting
as both watchdog and instructor for the gullible, unlettered public. The group has apparently done some substantial instructing, because it claims to
be one of the three most popular medical websites on the entire internet. Dr. also serves as a Fellow of the "Committee for the Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal."

Quackwatch uses an FDA quotation to describe what, exactly, quackery or health fraud is, and it also provides the public with guidelines to help us
more easily identify the "quacks" among us. According to Quackwatch, "The FDA defines health fraud as 'the promotion, for profit, of a medical
remedy known to be false or unproven.'"

In reading through the reports published on Quackwatch, one will read claims that opponents to fluoridation have no supporting evidence to back their
opposition to fluoridation. In fact, the only suspicions regarding F that seem to be embraced by Quackwatch are suspicions raised about individuals
who oppose or question fluoridation. In one report that appears on Quackwatch, "Community Water Fluoridation in America: The Unprincipled
Opposition," Michael Easley, DDS, another outspoken promoter of fluoride, refers to fluoridation opponents as "health quacks," and quotes from a
1983 paper which likens fluoride opponents to "parasites" who "steal undeserved credibility just by sharing the stage with respected scientists,"
all of whom (we are apparently to believe) are pro-fluoridation. (59, 60)

Quackwatch warns that one of the tactics of an "anti" (an opponent to the mass fluoridation of drinking water), is to use tactics based upon "those
of Hitler," and to state that fluoride is the cause of an entire laundry list of problems. Quackwatch is correct about the laundry list. This is not
a "tactic," however. It is a mere statement of facts.

Those who have dared to ask a few questions in spite of the potential risk of public humiliation by Quackwatch and other fluoridation promoters, have
discovered information that flatly contradicts the information being generated by the promoters.

In a journal found in the National Library of Medicine, studies have shown that in doses as low as 3 mg per day, fluoride has produced toxic effects
on male reproductive hormones. Despite what Americans are being told by fluoridation promoters, the negative effects of F upon both body and mind have
not only been discovered, but they have also been duly reported, albeit in areas and texts that most Americans - including professionals - do not
regularly access, subscribe to or read. (61, 62, 63, 64)

Perhaps the most amazing fact of all discovered by those daring to ask questions, is the fact that the F compound being added into our drinking water
under a promised, medicinal claim, has not ever been approved by the FDA.

Representative Glenn Donnelson of Utah summed this fact up during the winter, 2003, National Conference of State Legislatures. When asked about
fluoride he stated, "A major concern is that the Food and Drug Administration has never approved fluoride for safety or effectiveness . . . When a
product, substance or chemical is added to the public water supply for the purposes of treating or preventing a disease, that chemical must have an
approved health claim by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. To say that 'fluoridated water will decrease tooth decay' is an illegal health
claim." (65)

Most of the dental problems in the Surgeon General's report are broken down according to race, income and educational levels in the government's
apparent attempt to find a reason behind the appalling increase in gum disease. It is in the midst of this data that the following lament is made: ".
. . about 40 percent of the public does not receive the benefits of community water fluoridation." Because the mention of "fluoride-deficient"
communities is listed in this report, one might reasonably draw a conclusion that fluoridated drinking water must be working wonders for those more
fortunate folks in the fluoridated counties. Certainly, the five states mentioned on the Surgeon General's list as having the worst toothlessness
problems - Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and Maine - must be five of the most embarrassingly "fluoride-deficient" states in the
entire United States. (67)

A brief review of a state-by-state CDC score card of "optimally fluoridated" communities reveals just the opposite.

Predictably, and in keeping with research that reveals fluoride causes gum disease, the two states with the worst edentulous problems in the country -
Kentucky and West Virginia - were 96% and 87% "optimally fluoridated" in 2000. In fact, Kentucky, which was mentioned earlier above as also having
twice the rate of cavities in toddlers as the national average, was actually 100% fluoridated in 1992.

Among the other top five states of now-toothless-Americans, Maine was 75% fluoridated, Arkansas was about 60% fluoridated and over 53% of Louisiana's
residents were being "optimally fluoridated" via hazmat waste in their drinking water. (68)

Adding to the overall contradictory statistics is yet another report, this one a 2001-02 "report card" issued by a fluoride-promoting group calling
itself "Oral Health America" (OHA). They gave the United States an oral health grade of only "C," a grade that was in part lowered because each
state not "optimally fluoridated" automatically received one "F"to be figured into their grade. According to OHA's data, there were only four
states that actually received a better grade than the national average of C. Two of those four states that received the highest grades in America for
overall oral health were Utah and Hawaii. Both Utah and Hawaii received a B minus.

Utah and Hawaii, however, are the two "hold-out" states in America. Both states have been roundly rejecting water fluoridation for some time.
(69)

Once again, the list of areas being "optimally fluoridated" or "fluoride deficient" pertains only to fluoridation of drinking water. There is no
mention of the other sources of fluoride pollution in America. Among the other sources are ongoing fluoride contamination of the air and environment
by Superfund sites, fluoride contamination in animal feeds, pesticides, cigarette smoke, coal combustion, in fertilizers being incorporated into
soils, the fluoride that is contained in plastics and in nonstick cookware, the fluoride contamination of human foods as well as canned/bottled
juices, soft drinks and other beverages, and the fluoride that is added to an overwhelming number of pharmaceutical products, including antibiotics,
steroids, molecular imaging tracking agents, anesthetics, vitamins and antidepressants.

As though even more fluoride were somehow needed by a nation that is clearly already overdosed, the list also does not include one of the most highly
concentrated sources of fluoride that is purchased by most Americans and used daily: Conventional toothpastes. Most toothpastes have a fluoride
content that is so potentially lethal, a poison warning must be displayed on their labels. In what must be the most bizarre examples of conflicting
and confusing in formation, while "public health officials" in many states are using words such as "enforcement" when it comes to keeping fluoride
in people's drinking water, the notice on the toothpaste tubes warns specifically against the ingestion of the fluoride product. The government's
Medline encyclopedia gives the following prognosis following an ingested toothpaste overdose: "For fluoridated toothpastes -- If the patient survives
for 48 hours, recovery is usually likely." (70)

It was while studying the raging debate over whether "we" should or should not pay the uranium mining industries to use our drinking water as a
cheap way to dispose of their fluoride wastes, that another fact appeared.

It appeared rather quietly and without fanfare, almost as background noise that was unnoticeable against the din of debate on municipal fluoridation.
It might have been missed entirely if it weren't for the fact that I was focusing on the growing list of behavioral problems in children, and
wondering each step of the way if the children's problems might possibly be tied into an epidemic of epidemics caused by fluoride.

While adults were sometimes being given an opportunity to express opinions prior to the fluoridation of their water supplies, another fluoridation
program was quietly begun. In the 1960s and 1970s, fluoridation was begun in children's schools which had their own water supplies. The fluoridation
plan for the schools' drinking water, however, differed slightly from the municipal fluoridation plans. The CDC guidelines suggested that school
children's drinking water should be fluoridated at approximately 4.5 times the amount suggested for municipal fluoridation. (108, 109)

This deliberate overdose, which translates into ranges reaching 6.5 mg per liter of water, is not a dose that was based upon any child's size,
weight, age or body mass. It is not a dose that was based upon any particular child's individual dental needs - nor was there even consideration of
whether the children's teeth had already erupted and were therefore no longer affected by ingested fluoride. The dose was certainly not based upon
any parent's desire to have his or her children exposed to fluoride in amounts that the parents would not want to receive. It is a dose that does not
even take into consideration the amount of fluoride the children might already be exposed via topical dental products.

In fact, it is a dose that callously - and quite coldly - takes nothing whatsoever into consideration other than the mean outdoor temperature. In
schools where the average daily temperature is 79.3 to 90.5 degrees Fahrenheit, the suggested dose is 3.2 milligrams per liter, with the upper range
being 3.8 mg/L. But, heaven help the schools in colder areas where the average air temperature is 50 to 53.7 degrees Fahrenheit. In those schools, the
suggested dose is 5.4 mg/L, with upper limits at 6.5 mg/L. (110)

With the dose of fluoride experimentation at such extreme levels, one would think that at least caution and close monitoring would be in order.

In addition to school fluoridation now being "not known," in the same National Conference of State Legislatures in which Representative Donnelson
registered his opposition to fluoridation, another 2001 study was reviewed. The study examined the knowledge level of operators controlling both small
and large water plants. Specifically, this study focused on the knowledge level of individuals responsible for adding the fluoride into the drinking
water. The two-year study found that only "approximately 64 percent of plant operators knew the correct optimal fluoride concentration for their
plant . . ." (112)

Medical experimentation is always undertaken for a purpose. The purpose in most cases is to achieve or study end results. It is not unreasonable to
suspect that the massive medical experiment involving one of the most powerful of the greenhouse gases - fluoride - might finally be revealing its
long-term, end results. With children being subjected to more than a full measure of this experiment, it is not unreasonable to suspect that the
children might reach their breaking point before the larger, older, heavier adult population.

It is not unreasonable to assume that children might now be showing signs not only of dental fluorosis - which has been visible for years in the
United States - but also signs of systemic fluorosis manifesting in ways that have nothing to do with their teeth.

With a manmade, toxic substance now effectively sending false messages throughout the minds and bodies of most Americans, it is not unreasonable to
suggest that previously unheard-of behavioral and mood problems might be directly related to that manmade substance which is sending out those false
messages. Along with the new, bizarre fascination with darkness that appears to be growing in this country's juveniles, there seems to be a new
aloofness and a growing lack of compassion.

In some children there appears to be a growing inability to think clearly beyond the moment at hand, and an inability to avoid bizarre and impulsive
behavior. In some boys, there appears to be a growing inability to feel, and therefore an inability to behave in a manner that considers the feelings
of others. School bullying, once a rare and punishable offense, is simply seen now as "life in the real world," as the principal of a notably
violent middle school in Tallahassee told me. Along with an inability to feel, there is a growing inability to even perceive a concept of the divine.
Instead, there appears to be a growing willingness to follow dark, provocative and charismatic leaders who are now easily leading their young
disciples directly into hell.

There is also a growing reverence for Nazi philosophy reported among some school children, nationwide.

With children's minds now being ruled by a false messenger, it is within reason to wonder if this messenger of lies is the toxic agent behind the
growing, horrific cases of murder, suicide and inexplicable behavior now being carried out by children - irrational acts carried out by children who
are unable to think clearly enough to "just say no" to anything.

According to studies and charts provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), during the years 1988 to 2000 the percentage of children and teens
suffering from obesity more than doubled. During those same years, the CDC reported that the prevalence of adults suffering from overweight and
obesity rose steadily to 64%. In 2001, the second most frequently prescribed drug sold in America was a synthetic hormone drug, indicating a vast
number of individuals were now suffering from thyroid malfunction. Tied in with the overweight and obesity problems resulting from thyroid malfunction
are a host of additional, potentially deadly afflictions suggesting that "overweight" might be only a symptom rather than a diagnosis - it is
actually only one of the more visible clues that something is not right, that something is out of kilter. (2, 3, 4)

According to the CDC, between the years 1980 and 1994 the overall incidence of asthma increased 75%. Since 1991, the number of US adults with
diagnosed diabetes has increased 61%, and the number is projected to more than double by the year 2050. (5, 6)

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine stated that the incidence of gastric/esophageal cancer (adenocarcinoma) has inexplicably risen more
rapidly than any other cancer incidence in the United States. Yale New Haven Hospital and the National Cancer Institute list that rate of increase at
350%. Also noted was the observation that the majority of the unfortunates suffering from gastric cancer in this particular study were white males,
and the majority of those white males first presented with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Adult white males were not the only ones suffering
from GERD, however. By the CDC's own definition of "epidemic," GERD appears to be an epidemic of staggering proportions in the United States,
today. (7)

During the five-year period ending in 2001, the sale of drugs prescribed to treat reflux, heartburn and other gastrointestinal disorders in children
soared 660 percent. In a report looking at four of those same years, the cost of treating behavioral problems presently referred to as ADHD in
children also increased 120 percent. (8, 9)

According to an annual report of the US Department of Education to Congress, the number of "children aged 0 to 21" being treated for autism and
traumatic brain injury rose from the first 5,000 reported cases in 1992/93 (at the start of mandatory reporting), to 94,000 cases in 2000/01. In
looking at individual states, a troubling mosaic forms. States showing the highest increase (a two thousand percent increase or greater) in the number
of children being treated for autism include Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky, Mississippi, Maryland and Oregon. This is not to say that the other states
were faring well - in California from 1987 through 2002, the number of people being treated for autism by the Department of Developmental Services
increased by 634%. In Indiana the percentage of children suffering from autism rose by 860%. In Michigan, the increase was over 1000%. The 1999
Journal of Pediatrics indicated that the majority of autistic children who were followed in one study were also suffering from reflux and other
digestive problems. (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)

Unfortunately, it appears that little boys are far more likely than little girls to suffer from autism as well as from a variety of childhood
behavioral disorders. Typically, even as infants these boys also appear to be suffering from reflux and sleep disturbances. It is while noting the
surge in ADHD that another disturbing fact emerges: Some of the states with the worst surges in behavioral problems - including Colorado, Kentucky,
Mississippi, Alaska and Oregon - are also states in which still-unexplained behavior in juvenile males has manifested in horrific school shootings.

While the brain and its workings are still not fully understood, it is within the frontal lobes of the brain that the capacities for moral judgment,
attention and memory are now thought to be situated. PET scans and functional MRIs of the boys afflicted with autistic disorders have revealed what
appears to be "decreased glucose metabolic rate in the medial frontal region,"and "hypometabolism [lowered metabolism] demonstrated in the temporal
and parietal regions." (16)

Tests have also indicated that, in the brains of the afflicted boys there is a "decreased activity and reduced anatomical size, particularly in the
right brain . . . " Other brain disturbances, including disturbances in the brain's processing of tryptophan, serotonin and melatonin are becoming
known, as is damage to the hippocampus area, thought to be associated with memory problems and obsessive thoughts. (17)

In Colorado, the rate of suicide among teenagers, children and young adults has been consistently above the national average since 1980. Suicide is,
sadly, the second-leading cause of death in children between the ages of 10 through 19 in Colorado. In Kentucky, suicide is also the second leading
cause of death in children, teens and young adults. In Mississippi, the number of teen and young-adult suicides has increased 126% since 1969, with
more than 90% of the victims being males. In Alaska, the suicide rate among teenagers is nearly twice that of the national average - twice. (21, 22,
23, 24)

Other strange surges in human suffering have been noted, as well. In Colorado, from 1990 through 1999, the percentage of children with orthopedic
impairments rose 484%. In Alaska, during 1990-98, the incidence of diabetes increased by 152%, (much greater than the national rate), and now Alaska
is among the top three states with the highest incidence of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. (25, 26)

In the midst of all this growing and tragic suffering, in the year 2000 the Surgeon General issued a "first ever" call to action in response to what
was noted as a "silent epidemic" of dental problems in the United States. Something strange is happening in the mouths of Americans. (27)

According to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, an estimated 80% of American adults currently have some form of periodontal
(gum) disease. In parts of Kentucky, nearly half of the toddlers have cavities in their teeth, which is approximately twice the national average. In
addition to Kentucky, the top five states cited in a 1997 table used in the Surgeon General's report on toothlessness included West Virginia,
Louisiana, Arkansas and Maine. (28, 29, 30)

Perhaps it is at this point that one might begin to reasonably suspect that whatever lies at the cause of this epidemic of epidemics - whatever is
disabling Americans in body, mind and spirit - just might be something we are putting into our mouths or otherwise absorbing into our bodies. This is
not an unreasonable suspicion.

The obesity, dental and diabetes statistics, i can believe. We pump our bodies full of # each and every day. That's not why we have psychotic kids.
Unhealthy kids, yes. As for the fluride, toxins in the water aren't helping, but they're not the root or the cause of the problem.

As for gastrointinal cancer and other, related and fairly ridiculous statistics, let me say this- if one in every 200000 people gets said cancer one
year, and three in every 200000 get in the next, that is a *gasp* 300% percent increase! Show me hard numbers before you give me statistics.

Boys are hardest hit by congenital defects, cancer, ect because of the Y chromasome. There is, frankly, less genetic material to go around in us. As
for the comments about the brain, autism is caused by a general lack of mass and development in the frontal lobes, thereby reducing the capacity to
metabolize needed oxygen and glucose. Autism also affects other areas of the brain at the same time, but to a much lesser degree.

The most disturbing statistic is the suicide that one concerns me, as it is the most prevalent issue with twisted youth- we're killing ourselves
off.

I don't think you can blame the most of society's problems on fluride. It's not helping, but I don't think it's a psychotropic agent or opiate.
It's not giving our kids their crack addictions, and the parrallels drawn are fairly insubstantial.

very disturbing indeed. my personal belief is that the primary cause is negigent parenting. i also believe that all the violent images where bombarded
with by the media also had some part in this as well. dont get me wrong here though, society has been violent long before the tv was invented and i am
opposed to censorship.

i strongly believe though that the reason why tragedies are more common nowadays is that parents are too wrapped up in thier careers and thier own
personal lives that they are relying too much on tv as a babysitter of sorts and not paying much attention to whats going on in thier children's
lives. i also believe that our schools also have to make a greater effort to keep an eye out for these things, provide better counseling services to
children, and also educate children on the evils of violence.

Originally posted by DeusEx
I don't think you can blame the most of society's problems on fluride. It's not helping, but I don't think it's a psychotropic agent or opiate.
It's not giving our kids their crack addictions, and the parrallels drawn are fairly insubstantial.

DE

I agree. The problems are a direct result of ignoring emotions. Too many people pretend they just don't exist. If they're not pretending, then
that's even more scary. Now days, unless you do something really bad, no one is going to attempt to help you. And if you do something bad, the
"help" you receive isn't going to be of any help. It's going to be more of a punishment. Kids who are lashing out at family or society only get
worse when punished. They're trying to tell people something, but being ignored. They don't know what to do, and it ends up coming out as something
negative when they hold it in until they explode. Even then, people don't look at the root of the problem. They just concentrate on the moment of the
explosion. Kids have gotten very good at pretending these disturbing emotions don't exist, since no one really acknowledges them. This is definitely
unhealthy, and much of the cause of this "insanity" we see today.

IMHO....and will obviously get flammed for it, but if parents would do like they did in the "good ole' days" and beat the living crap out of there
kids each and every time they screwed up, smart-mouthed, called the social workers, etc.....
The problem would not exist today.
Think not.....ask the older, wiser, folks in your community and see what they think and say on this.......

Originally posted by KrazyJethro
Doubtful. If holding in your emotions was the cause, then humanity would have done itself in centuries ago.

No, I think not. The problem is this:

1) Some people are stupid. Easily dupped by those more influential than they

2) Some people are broken, and lack the mental fortitude to adjust their shortcomings, and some do not KNOW they have shortcomings

3) Some people make mistakes due to naivety. This is where kids come in.

Notice I never put that a bad up bringing caused anything. If that is the excuse some have, then I laugh in their face.

Many have had just as bad if not worse than you (figurative you, not you specifically), and become a successful person.

It all comes down to mental fortitude.

That's ridiculous. It sounds like you may have had an easy life, but you think you've had it tough. Perhaps you have no idea what you're talking
about. Kids are actually smarter than they used to be. You can't tell me that there wasn't always naive and/or stupid people.

Oh, I agree. I'm an advocate of spankings from the day they learn to say no.

I just think people have generally moved away from their inner
selves, that's all. They paint on this public disguise, and that's who they become. You know as well as I do, "help" for kids only comes in one
flavor: Punishment. That's the stance our society takes now days. Unfortunately, tough love only goes so far. Real love and compassion is also
needed. This is what's lacking in today's societies, IMO. Every time I've been down and done something wrong, people have only tried to teach me a
lesson...and make it even tougher. What they don't realize is, the reason why I screwed up in the first place was because I already had about as much
as I thought I could handle. Yet, they pile on more. People snap under those conditions, and those conditions have now become the norm. Luckily, I'm
not a kid anymore.

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